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Baked potato bar

We recently invited six friends over for dinner, and instead of juggling recipes (we aren't fancy cooks), we did a baked potato bar! Alex baked the potatoes in the oven for an hour, and we put out bowls with tons of toppings. Our list of toppings: butter, black pepper, goat cheese, sautéed spinach, avocados, chicken, brie and cranberry sauce, chili, grated cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms, onions and garlic. (I also wanted to do sour cream with caviar--how fabulous would that be? Next time!) It was super easy and delicious. What toppings do you like on baked potatoes? Any weird ones?

Sounds delish! We did that the other day with crepes. Costco did the fancy part of the cooking - the crepes - and I sauteed separate dishes of spinach, mushrooms, and chicken along with a gruyere bechamel sauce. Folks made their own combinations, and that plus a green salad was all we needed! Super, super easy and the toppings were all cooked separately in one pot, so clean up was a cinch, too.

chic potato - so funny. so MINIMALIST.definitely adding this to the DINNER PARTY folder; also, we've been using potatoes (or sweet potatoes) at our house to stretch out small amounts of leftover winter stews.

This is brilliant. I am bored with trying to think of interesting things to cook when people come round but I'd love to do this. Can't really think of anybody who'd object. And I'd give the staring contest a go too. After 25 years + of cooking to entertain, I was beginning to despair. Cheers!

Thats a great idea! Simple, but fun. I will definitely have to try it one of these days. It also works GREAT for accommodating allergies, vegans, and gluten free eaters - who are all within my immediate family!

My parents host a dinner for 30 for their volunteer groups every 1-2 months and they are BIG fans of the potato bar AND the pasta bar. My husband & I have 14 people for dinner once a month, and we became big fans, too. They invite people to bring their favorite items, and have had some unusual thing (my mom said someone brought cottage cheese, which was kind of gross.)

They have introduced us to sauteed peppers and onions, grilled sausage, sesame seeds, and vegetable stew for our potato bars. We haven't tried the veggie stew, but we plan to!

this is such a good idea! my mom's family is irish*, so whenever we have potatoes we only have them with butter. when I was little I hated mashed/baked potatoes b/c my mom made them EVERY night for dinner!

I am totally doing this with my friends...but would you believe I have no idea how long to roast a potato b/c I've never wanted to before?

(* this also means that pepper is "spicy"...so food isn't very flavorful around here!)

I did a baked potato bar at my ugly sweater christmas party this year and it is such a great meal to serve! No stress for the hostess and people can grab when they want it. You can even keep baked potatoes warm in a big crock-pot until people are ready to eat. I made four different infused butters to serve with mine as well. Love your idea for sweet toppings too! So fun and easy!

We used to do this growing up and my roommate and I lived off these in college! Our family friend introduced them to our family as Spud-weisers. Since they're great for using up the leftovers in the fridge, we'd often include sauteed mushrooms (my favorite), corn, and black beans (since I was vegetarian). You're toppings look great! Can't wait to try them!

I/we love crunchy quinoa! You cook it on the stove (the conventional way) for a bit, then spread it out on a pan in the oven so it has a nice crunch. It shakes up the baked potato and regular topping texture and is good for you!

We did this for our new years party when we had 5 families over to celebrate (it's great for kids too). We had a lot of the same toppings plus crispy pancetta, carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, cilantro, and vegetarian chili in the crockpot. Easy and delicious.

and lately we've been wrapping the potatoes in tin foil, popping them in the crock-pot for 6-8 hours on low, and it's the best! there's SO moist that way and always done perfectly, takes all the guess work out of it for us!

I make a saucy chick pea topping and have it on a baked sweet potato. It's so yummy! Saute onion, garlic, green pepper; add 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup Worcestershire and a can of crushed tomatoes; add chick peas and additional 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar and heat through. It sounds a bit weird, but it's yummy and good for you!

I've found some really yummy baked potato recipes on some of my favorite blogs (and then blogged about them... the link is below) but some spicy arugala with dressing and a fried egg over top is shockingly good!!

My favorite baked potato topping is actually A-1 sauce! You should try it; it's SUPER yummy and a little bit healthier than sour cream (although I have been known to add both at the same time!). What a fun idea for a party!

Taco Bars are good.. and you can make them so different.. have mango salsa and tilapia for fish tacos. You can make it healthier by offering nonfried foods and baked chicken etc.. so that the calories don't get too out of wack

I actually get anxiety when I invite a big group of friends over - spending nights dog-earring recipes in magazines and hoping it all somehow comes together. THANK YOU for this, can't wait to use it on the next bunch!!!

Am homesick for the States right now so this post is killing me! Although I must say that my grandmother once made twice baked potatoes every night for a WEEK when she was watching us and that almost killed me on taters. From a Frenchy point of view? Shaved truffles and baratte butter. Voila.

This sounds like fun! The perfect thing to do with a bunch of friends. I usually go with just butter and pepper, but sometimes I'll take a walk on the wild side and add some sour cream! Such a dangerous life I lead... :)

This is actually called "Kumpir" in Turkish, and it's a really famous fast food in Istanbul. We usually put butter, cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, sweetcorn, olives, sausage slices and Russian salad in the baked potato! Delicious!

English classic- tuna with mayonaise! That's where/how I tried these "jacket potatoes" first and I'm sticking to it. It's delicious!and your post just made me hungry...and it's 1a.m. here! Shame on you for that, Joanna! :)

Mmm. I used to work for a catering hall that offered something similar for cocktail hour, only it was mashed potatoes (served in big martini glasses) with lots of toppings. Totally mentally bookmarked it for a wedding, but never thought to have it at a party! Genius. Somehow, so much more satisfying than an ice cream bar!

I've done a mashed potato bar before. I had chili for the potatos, and it turned into a little bit of a chili bar, but that was okay too. I had about twenty-five different toppings. It was craziness. If I do it again, I'll scale down the toppings. Your list sounds perfect.